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This
week’s Supreme Court decision to reduce punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez
oil spill case comes as a blow to many in the Alaska Native communities around
Kodiak that were affected by the spill. KMXT’s Casey Kelly has more.

Herman Squartsoff
is a subsistence hunter and fisherman in Ouzinkie. He says back in 1989 oil was
everywhere on Spruce Island. Today, he says, the effects of the spill can still
be seen.

(Squartsoff 1:12s“…so
it’s still around.”)

Squartsoff
is upset that the Supreme Court’s ruling limited the amount of punitive damages
that Exxon must pay, especially now that the price of fuel in Ouzinkie is
approaching 7 dollars a gallon.

(Squartsoff
2:14s“…the face with this thing.”)

He
says the spill created psychic wounds in some communities that will never heal.

(Squartsoff
2:18s“…except for a few people.”)

Jack
Wick is a former commercial fisherman and a member of the Larsen Bay Tribal
Council. He says the spill did irrevocable damage to his community.

(Wick
1:05s“…now there’s only fifty.”)

Wick
says most of those who left were commercial fishermen who lost their salmon
market after the spill. He says many of those who stuck around are trying to
make a go of it doing something else.

(Wick
2:09s“…business for sport fishing.”)

And
although he’s disappointed in the court’s ruling, he says he wasn’t really
surprised by the decision.

(Wick
3:10s“…have too much of chance.”)

Wick says there
won’t be much that he can do with the reduced settlement he’ll receive besides
pay a few bills.